Annual Pasco school board report outlines the expulsions of 38 students in past year

LAND O' LAKES - Pasco County schools expelled 38 students this past school year for infractions that included fighting, drug possession and assaults on other students or school staff members, according to district records and a report to the school board.High schools accounted for 19 of the expulsions, middle schools nine and education centers 10.The cumulative expulsion report, which was included in the school board's agenda packet for the Tuesday board meeting, covered the period from Aug. 21 through this week, and included four expulsions that were on the Tuesday agenda.Schwettman Education Center in New Port Richey had the most expulsions, with five. Next was Irvin Education Center in Dade City, which had four. Those two centers are alternative schools that serve students who had disciplinary problems in other schools.

The high schools with the most expulsions were Pasco High and Sunlake High, with three each. Stewart Middle in Zephyrhills, which also expelled three students, had the highest number among middle schools.Most expulsions were handled with routine school board votes, but a 17-year-old Sunlake High student accused of fighting in the cafeteria and assaulting two administrators appealed his case and one of his parents requested a rare open expulsion hearing before the school board. Most expulsions aren't appealed, but when they are the hearings usually are closed.This hearing, held April 16, included video of the Feb. 28 fight in which an assistant principal was knocked to the ground and injured. The student also pushed the school's plant manager.An attorney representing the teenager said the other student in the fight had been harassing the teen for days prior to the altercation, but the school board voted to expel the teen anyway.Another case drew attention throughout the Tampa Bay area.A 17-year-old Mitchell High student expelled March 5 was accused of attacking another girl as they rode home on a school bus, records said. A third student videotaped the attack and the video was later shared on the Internet.rblair@tampatrib.com(813) 371-1853Twitter: @RBlairTBO